Doing a brine for the first time

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linescum

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Nov 12, 2006
917
12
Saxton, Pa.
Just put the 8#er in the brine nothing fancy in it some sea salt some brown sugar and honey with a little old bay for the kicker..never did a brine before. never heard of it till i found this site so i'm doing a test chicken... can't wait till tommorrow when she's done..hopefully have some pics
 
Hey Linescum...I never used a brine prior to being educated on this site. Tomorrow you might be tasting the best chicken you have ever had. After my first brine I was hooked!

I am brining a couple of chicken myself & I can't wait to eat them. My basic brine is water, kosher salt, sugar, black pepper, garlic powder, & molasses. I have also used Worcestershire sauce & apple juice from time to time.

Good luck & let us know how it turns out!!
 
her's a pic of my smoker in action and the chick. got up late so it got started late :oops:
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here she is at 4 hours, internal temp 156 started glazing with pure maple syrup and butter. definitly in slobber mode :lol:
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:shock: WAIT! Hold on Linescum! Never eat your test chicken! Send it to me! Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m older, I was born in the South (so obviously, Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve eaten more chicken)…and Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m only 100 miles from you! Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m the obvious choice, don‘t ya see? Give it to me! I will be impartial! You wonâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t, youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re hungry! I can give you an honest assesment to your craft! Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll meet you at Rt. 422 & Rt. 99. Hurry! :roll: Drool!, Slobber! Damn, just shorted out my keyboard!
 
hey up ya gots about 15 minutes to get here :lol:
letting her rest. got the camera in one hand and a knife and fork in the other let the slobbering begin
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well that was a complete success :P and the maple glaze was to die for even the XYL was impressed..gonna cutup a 20# turkey for thanksgiving and also do a full pork loin..also gonna deep fry a bird, the relatives won't know what hit them this year :lol: can't wait

Brining is definitly gonna be a big part in my future smokes. well gotta sit back and digest. ya'll being hearing more from me
 
Nice job! I am also hooked on brining. I like to spatchcock, cut back bone out and lay flat(I hope that is what spatchcock is). My Mom doesn't like the idea so I'm smoking one with just a rub and the other is in a brine right now. I threw in some cajun spices to bump it up.

I also did a pork loin last weekend in a brine. Was good, just a tad salty for Mom. I'm not a big pork loin fan but the kids loved it. Dad will eat anything from a smoker.

Hey, I love the baling wire to hold the legs together! My kinda guy. I'm assuming your a farm boy. All you need now is to get some duck tape in there somewhere. Oh, and an adjustable hammer.......also known as a cresent wrench.

Gonna see if wife has camera here to get some pics of the smoke tomorrow. Can't wait to start.
 
Maple syrup & butter....any certain percentages? (1/2 cube/cup syrup) . sounds great for today's yard birds.
 
cajun...i used a half a stick and about 4 oz of syrup.. went to the grocery store with the wife today and found some strawberry syrup gonna try that out on the next smoke
 
That looks to be about the perfect yard bird. I became a fan of brining over the summer. I swear I won't do any poultry any more without the brine. I've experimented with different flavors and it has just absolutely become an absolutely necessary step.

The maple and butter, I saw this in a magazine about 7 years ago. Every Thanksgiving turkey has been done this way since (and quite a few chickens). I use a stick of butter and about yea much of maple syrup. First you heat it up, then you inject it through the bird. I tent the bird until it's close to the end and then un-tent (is that a word??) and then use the remaining maple & butter to get that nice brown hue and crisp skin. Last time I made a turkey I think my son at all the skin!

One note on the maple syrup. Just about all you can get in the store is grade a dark amber which has an ok maple flavor. If you really want a great maple flavor you'll need to order grade B on line or I think a few health food stores carry it (it's actually healthier than the refined grade a's). Below is a link to a website, it's not where I ordered my last jugs from, but they're probably all about the same price...
http://vermonttradewinds.com/maple.htm

One note, this makes an excellent gravy, slightly sweet and mapley. When you put your leftover gravy in a container in the fridge it will render the butter into a solid and you'll be able to take it off if you desire. Last time I had it in a square 4x4 container, probably about a quart and the fat was like over an inch thick...It was great the night before, but re-heats were less that butter (but still great!!)
 
I agree with Shellbellc, there is no substitute for REAL maple syrup. You'll be dissappointed if you use that imitation Aunt J stuff. Spend the extra little bit and get the real Macoy, you won't be sorry
 
i did a brined turkey this year for the first time and man was it juicy, even the nuked leftovers are skeeting juices :shock:
 
Well, you guys talked me into brining a chicken for dinner yesterday... it was awesome.. I'll put up some pics later once I figure out how to get the links to work...
 
Nice looking bird there linescum! I swore I could smell that maple syrup til Mrs. Dutch told me I had a bit of maple syrup in my moustache! Guess I gotta get around to trimming it. :roll: Once again, great looking bird and great pics.
 
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